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Play It, Sam: Casablanca Piano On The NYC Auction Block Next Month
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 27, 2012
Modified Nov 27, 2012
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 27, 2012
Modified Nov 27, 2012
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One of the pianos from Casablanca is going up on the auction block here in New York... but before bidding, let's clear some things up: no one ever says, "Play it again, Sam" in this movie. He is told to "Play it!" He is told to "Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake." And he is told simply, "Play it, Sam." The lines are often misquoted as "Play it again, Sam," which is never uttered in the classic 1942 film. And "it," by the way, is "As Times Goes By," which Sam plays in many scenes:
The piano on the block is the one in the Paris flashback scene, where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are shown leaning on a piano, played by Sam (Dooley Wilson) at a Paris bistro. This one (not the other one, which is at Warner Bros Studio in California):
It will be up for sale at Sotheby's in New York on December 14th, and they're estimating it will get somewhere around the $1.2 million mark (in 1988 it was sold for just $154,000).
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auction
casablanca
piano
play it sam
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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